Acts with GREAT first albums, bu then...the downward spiral...

[CanuckAmok]

Someonce said that the reason "first" albums are so good is that the artist has been working on it his whole life. The second album, is usually thrown together withing a year, due to record company pressure.


So...who had one good album in them, and then............................................mediocrity?


Five come to mind for me, immediately:

Weezer
Tracy Chapman
Led Zeppelin (let the flamin' begin!)
Van Halen
Love and Rockets

[MinnFats]

1. Chicago (Transit Authority)

their first album came out around 1969 and it was very hot, hip, horn band stuff. creative, soulful R&B.

then, the actual CTA made them change their name and starting with their second record they plunged.


I bought the first record and played it until the grooves wore down.


It went on for eight or nine records (they always picked such creative titles, too: "Chicago II," "Chicago III," "Chicago IV,") and they turned into some easy-listening muzak elevator music band.

i had a friend who just looooved every single thing they did. i used to really piss him off by suggesting there was a game to play with Chicago records....take them all out of the covers, set the covers to one side, shuffle the records like a deck of cards, and then play them and try to guess which cover they'd come out of.

depressing sameness.

[Dookus]

2. gawd....

I bought SO many Tracy Chapman albums that I hated all because I loved her first album so much.

But... I saw her in concert this past summer, and she was great. Of course, she still did a LOT of stuff from her first album and the occasional semi-hit she's had since then.

[CanuckAmok]

3. I need to add an apology for all the typos!

it was too late to edit the message by the time I went to re-read it. Must be bed-time! 'Night, all!

[JackSwift]

4. Consider thyself flamed for thine impertinent comment about Zep

Every album they did was a masterpiece. And I don't even like metal music.

[Dookus]

5. I agree...

entirely. I love the entire Zeppelin catalog, and they're about the only band in that genre I listen to.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

6. I thought George Michael's " Faith " was an excellent debut ...

everything since then I have not liked whatsoever .

[Maine-i-acs]

7. Van Halen peaked with "Fair Warning" but what about:

Stone Temple Pilots?

Presidents of the USA?

Green Day?

Spin Doctors?


I agree about Weezer but I think that LedZep has a ton of good albums in their catalog!

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Boston is the one that jumped into my head first

And i disagree with Zep - I think all their albums are excellent, and even got better as time went on.

[ALago1]

9. On Weezer...

...their second album "pinkerton" is an underground classic! One of my favorite albums in my collection. I would urge you to listen to it again. However, their 3rd and 4th albums were very mediocre.

[theorist]

10. Sneaker Pimps

IMHO, Becoming X is a great CD. The singer left, but they kept making records...

[the_boxer_]

16. Is that the one with Spin Spin Sugar on it?

by the way....The Orb did a remake of Spin Spin Sugar...it's ridiculously good.

[theorist]

19. That's the one. n/t

I'll check that out.

[thom1102]

11. Ooooo, I am gonna get it for this but...

Pearl Jam...
10 was a great album, but they just got progressively worse from there.

[Khephra]

13. I'll agree with that

I keep on trying to give them a break, but nothing they do hooks me into their music.

[Khephra]

12. Kid Rock?

Just kidding! No one better try to kick my ass! It's just a joke!

:evilgrin:

[the_boxer_]

14. Nine Inch Nails....

talk about a downward spiral...

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

15. Sherly Crow

I did not like her last album at all ...

[Whitacre D_WI]

17. Bob Seger.

The Bob Seger System's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" was one fantastic record. Then....

Well, let's just say that the man's output since then has been the fodder for Chevy commercials and wedding/bar mitzvah bands. Ugh.

[bif]

21. What about "Smokin' O.P.s"?

All covers. I thought that was quite an underrated album.

[Robb]

18. A-Ha!

Now, most people don't know they went on to make nearly a dozen albums, well into the 90's. Most people didn't live with my college roommate, who got a perverse joy out of following A-Ha's career, special-ordering their albums at the hopelessly hip local record store.

Good grief, I just remembered he was a polisci major. He's probably on DU. :eyes:

[bif]

20. Zep! I agree 100%!

They had such potential. what a greeat blues/ rock album. Then, album after album of music greasers can't work on their cars without blasting for the whole neighborhood to share.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. D'OH!

Come on, folks. The third album was art! So was Physical Graffiti.
The Professor

[NYYFan]

22. Lauryn Hill and Jodeci come to mind

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was pure genius, but then her "issues" seemed to get the best of her. The follow up double album was just not good. :-(

Also, Jodeci. All songs on Forever My Lady were great ! Diary of A Mad Band (2nd album) had 6 good songs out of 12, and The Show, The Afterparty, The Hotel (3rd album) had 3 good songs. Another disappointment. :-(

[Kamika]

23. R.E.M

Ok this is not their "first" album its more like.. their first album(s) before they became really really big were great because they were forced to make hits..

Then when they became big and their drummer quit they went like "We're big, now we can do the music WE want"

and their latest albms have been kinda bad compared to their first

[mac56]

24. Rank And File

Remember them?

[RandomKoolzip]

25. Fugazi.

Their first two EPs (compiled on "13 Songs") were so groundbreaking at the time that there was no real frame of reference for them- it was if they had crafted their sound out of a vacuum. And every tune was catchy and had fantastic, singalong lyrics.

Then "Repeater" came out, and for the first time there was filler. 50% of the songs were great, but the other half were unmemorable. Every record they've put out after that (With the exception of parts of "Red Medicine") were excercises in "let's make harsh and sloppy records with no melodies, cuz our audience is built-in and will never abandon us because our politics are so right on." The sole reason they still exist today is to uphold their righteous reputation which was engendered by thier first two EPs. Musically they are useless.

Others:

Moby Grape
The Dictators
Danzig (that first album is an underrated classic- seriously!)
Pere Ubu (peaked on their second album, but got progressively arty for no reason after that)
The Frogs
The Shaggs
Pearl Jam
Jason Falkner
Toots and the Maytals (first oficial album on Island, "Funky KIngston," was unbelievably good, but the songwriting and production suffered from keeping-up-with-the-trends-initis after that)
AC/DC (well, maybe not just their first album, but only a fool would suggest that Brian Johnson is a better vocalist than Bon Scott)
Rickie Lee Jones

[Screaming Lord Byron]

27. Elastica, Stone Roses, Television, Oasis

[Ellen Forradalom]

28. LIZ PHAIR

The classic example of sophomore, junior and senior slump. Her latest eponymous piece of ho-rock L.A. trash is such a betrayal of her promise, it makes the mind reel.

[ZoCrowes]

29. Great Topic

Van Halen
Guns N Roses
Oasis (First two albums and The Masterplan are KILLER)
The Stone Roses (FIVE FUCKING YEARS FOR THAT POS SECOND COMING?)

[grannylib]

30. Cheap Trick...first 2 albums were pretty good then they degenerated...

Rick Nielsen is an amazing guitar player, but I hate it when good musicians put out crap like "I want you to want me"

[geniph]

31. Blood Sweat and Tears

they were much better without David Clayton Thomas!